Bata SA MD Michael Wyatt...Staying focused on core business.
Pandemic has helped us take market share from importers
Published: 19th May 2021
Q&A with Michael Wyatt, MD Bata SA
How happy or otherwise is your business with the NRCS? Do you have numbers for all your styles? What are the problems, for safety footwear suppliers, with what the NRCS is doing?
Bata has a good relationship with NRCS. However, South Africa would benefit from speeding up the turnaround time of new articles which would help local companies develop better collections faster.
What have been the effects of the pandemic on your safety footwear business?
The effect of the pandemic has been good for Bata Industrials. We began manufacturing early last year as an essential service provider and it allowed us to luckily overachieve vs. plans. We don’t import any safety footwear. All of our current safety shoes and gumboots are made at the Bata factory in KZN.
How well has the safety footwear market held up over the past 18 months? Are there any noticeable changes in the quantities your customers are buying, in the price points that they're buying, or in the end customers that they're supplying?
Overall buying quantities are up with our key customers over the last 18 months, mainly due to taking market share from import brands who were left exposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. In South Africa, considering the economy, keen prices are always a focus for our customers so we stay focused on our core categories and business.
Are you exporting safety footwear? If so, where to, and to what sort of end customers?
Yes, we have been exporting safety footwear for over a decade to our distributors in SADC as well as our own Bata sister companies and franchises in Africa.
You do both leather and gumboots. Are your experiences different for these two categories?
Both have had their fair share of issues relating to short supply of raw material supply, so neither category is a clear winner. If anything I would say leather came out slightly ahead as it was not impacted by PVC resin short supply.
Footwear Industry Articles
- Revealed: The scale of cheap Chinese imports flown into UK without paying any tariffsSky News uncovers the first official estimate of the value of so-called 'de minimis' imports into Britain ahead of an official inquiry into whether this legal clause should be allowed to continue. ...moreMixed messages from Deckers Brands results
Goleta, California, USA (23 October 2025) – Hoka grew by 11.1% to US$634.1 million and Ugg grew by 10.1% to $759.6 million in Deckers Brands’ second fiscal quarter ended 30 September, the company announced.Sales of its ‘other brands’, now mainly Teva and Ahnu following the phase-out of its Koolaburra operations, de ...moreObituary: Eckehard Schumann - Shoetech Engineering cc (13/11/1945-19/08/2025) - From ships to shoes, and he sailed well in both
Durban, KZN, SA – My father was born in Potsdam, Germany, in the aftermath of the Second World War. His father died when he was very young, and his mother fled Germany for a better future in South Africa.As a German speaker, he was placed in the Afrikaans medium Port Natal School, where he matriculated in 1963.He went on to the Univ ...more
Leather Industry Articles
- PEPTIDE MANUFACTURE
Purchasing a 25 kg hide for the purposes of manufacturing a bit of leather used to be a pretty inefficient process. Consulting the 1999 paper (by UNIDO) showed the industry that 60-70% of that 25 kg is water, leaving collagen, keratin, glycosaminoglycans, fat, and a few minor components. The hair, epidermis, and fat are removed to leave a ...moreSam Setter's 'Pills': For readers who need some wry medicinal humourICLT – no need to mourn too muchRegretfully the University of Northampton decided in 2023 to close the Institute of Creative Leather Technologies, which in a variety of forms can be dated back to 1891. Apparently, the number of students declined over the years, the costs increased and the institution became unsustainable leading to ...moreSam Setter's 'Pills': For readers who need some wry medicinal humourDevelopment aid: What happened in Ethiopia demonstrates that plans by governments, UNIDO and NGOs that don’t take into account economic realities will failWhat follows is just an example of many similar situations in the whole spectrum of development aid for the leather industry in a variety of countries and in Africa in particular. ...more
PPE Industry Articles
- Gap cover: The case for the extra costAccidents can leave families with medical expenses that extend beyond what medical aid covers. This is where gap cover becomes a safety net. Accident benefits help bridge the gap between what medical aid pays and the actual costs of treatment.The financial implications of accidentsMedical costs can vary significantly. In severe cases, acc ...moreSurviving the safety footwear industry: The Simpsons meet Armageddon
ProFit Safety Footwear national sales manager Nick Bryant was asked on his 45th birthday (20th of August) whether he still enjoys what he does for a living. “Absolutely. I love it. I live for it,” he replied. “And as for how… well, like most things in life, you need to have a serious passion for it… and an ...morePrioritising air quality is prioritising health
When we think about ‘healthy buildings’, healthcare facilities need to be to the healthiest of them all. Today, hospital operators require facilities that are sustainable, efficient, resilient and provide the best experience and care to both patients and staff.At the top of the non-negotiable list for any healthy building shou ...more
© S&V Publications
